April's Fool
by Potgenie
Summary: Edward looks good with purple hair. Senseless humour and stuff. Post movie, Oneshot.


**Briefly put, this is a one-shot completely senseless humour featuring the Elric brothers. Takes place after the movie, when they're both stuck in the other world. So, enjoy!**

A-Not-So-Briefly-Put-Note:** If I'm not wrong, at the end of the series Al got his body back but his body was that of a ten year old, right? So by the movie he should be thirteen… (though in fact he's supposed to be seventeen) but since he got to the other world and there's all those sacrificing stuff (too lazy to elaborate, you should know, anyway) he got his memories back and he's a seventeen-year-old again, I shall assume, and so he shall be in this story! Yabaa dabaa! I lurve Alphonse!**

_The origin of April Fool's Day is shrouded in mystery. It never seems to have been an official holiday with an official reason or celebration. Perhaps it's just all a joke! _

_In truth, it seems that April Fool's Day originated when the calendar was changed from one where April 1st was New Years Day, to the Gregorian calendar, with its New Year beginning on January 1st.  
__**- a random website**_

It was a beautiful, cloudless Saturday afternoon. Everything was peaceful and calm; the clouds were still and there was hardly any breeze. The quaint little town where the Elric brothers now lived in was quiet and peaceful; everyone was at home enjoying the weekend, so the usual hustle-bustle in the marketplace was practically non-existent that day.

Eighteen-year-old Edward Elric was sitting on his bed, polishing his metal leg. Yes, it was a beautiful day alright, but he, for one, wasn't enjoying it.

The weather was incredibly, undeniably, unbelievably, terribly HOT.

Beads of sweat trickled down Edward's face. He needed a shower after his polishing, fast. He sighed with bliss as he imagined the cool water cascading over him as he stood under the shower, shampooing his silky blond hair –

Shampoo.

Edward groaned inwardly as he remembered – the house was out of shampoo! How could he have forgotten? His brother, seventeen-year-old Alphonse had been the last to shower just yesterday evening, and he had used up the last bit in the bottle. Edward had wanted to go to the nearby shop to buy some last night, but he had been distracted by his favourite weekly radio night show – Dancing with Ghosts.

Now he had to go out and buy a new bottle. Oh, why couldn't he have restocked earlier? Usually Alphonse was in charge of this sort of things, but he had been busy these few days, studying for some sort of exam. Alphonse had enrolled himself in a medical school where he was training to become a vet, an ambition of his. He had done exceptionally well in the entrance exam, and now he was taking one of his big final papers, and he was studying really hard for it.

Edward put on his prosthetic leg and stood up. Now he had to go out under the hot blazing sun and buy a retarded bottle of shampoo. He could carry an umbrella, he supposed, but he never did, because he thought it looked stupid carrying an umbrella when it wasn't raining. Only old women scared of getting blemishes did that, he thought.

Just then, Alphonse poked his head into the room. Tall and tanned, he looked in many ways similar to his older brother (apart from the eyes, short hair and height, of course). "Hey brother," he said, "I've lost my pen and I'm going out to buy one. Do you need anything?"

_Yes!_ Edward thought gratefully. The timing was just right; now he didn't have to go out in this unearthly weather anymore! "As a matter of fact, I do," he said cheerfully, "could you help me get some shampoo? We've run out and I need to shower soon."

"Ok then. Bye!" Alphonse replied and left the room, missing Edward do a silent whoop.

As Alphonse passed the living room, he noticed that their day-to-day calendar had not been updated; it was still at Thursday. Walking forward, he tore off the little green piece of paper and read the next bit – Friday, April 1st.

"The start of a new month, time sure flies," he murmured to himself. He stared at the date; for some reason he found the date April 1st familiar; he seemed to have read about it somewhere before. It was…

"April Fools!" Alphonse clapped his hands together, as though he was performing alchemy. "Today is April Fool's Day, when people play pranks on each other! I completely forgot. Well, it seems that people don't really celebrate it much in this town…"

He thought for a while, then smiled psychotically and rubbed his hands together in glee…

* * *

Alphonse entered the store. Despite having been in this other world for quite a while, he felt that he would never get used to the size of the shops here. The shops in Rizenbul, and frankly, any other town in his world, were teensy compared to the ones here! There were even signs to guide you to the different departments in the shop! Alphonse followed the one that said, "Grooming Needs".

He had decided to play a prank on his brother, just for the fun of it. Life was rather dreary here, and he knew his brother was still gloomy over their permanent departure from their own world – he was, too. Thus, he thought it'd do everyone good to bring some laughter into the tiny rented cottage of a household. Besides, he was dying to do something dumb and stupid, just for once.

He stopped in front of a row of shelves. "Hmm," Alphonse mused to himself as he scanned the multi-coloured bottles on them. He picked one up. "Radical Rainbow Hair Dye," he read off the label. "Our Wide Range of Colours will give you a Hair-Raising Sensation! Lasts for One Whole Week!" A slow smile spread across his face. "I think I've got an idea…"

A few minutes later Alphonse left the shop carrying a bag, grumbling to himself. "That dye was practically half the price of our rent…" Shaking his head, he hurried home, eager to start on his beautiful prank.

Alphonse was careful to be quiet as he entered the house. Peeking into the room he shared with his brother, he saw, with relief, that Edward had fallen asleep. That meant that he could work on his prank in peace. He entered the toilet and took the empty shampoo bottle. Then, retreating to the kitchen, he began on Step One.

Carefully unscrewing the cap of the dye, he poured the gooey mix into the empty shampoo bottle. Looking around, he quickly hid the empty bottle in a cupboard, deciding to deal with it later. He then screwed on the cap of the shampoo bottle and headed back to the bedroom.

He rapped the door smartly. Edward sat up with a start.

"Ooosh, I fell asleep," he said sleepily, "Hey, Al. Did you get my shampoo?"

Alphonse flashed him a grin. "I was just about to pass it to you, brother," he said, holding out the bottle. "Enjoy your shower!"

* * *

Edward stood under the shower, enjoying the feel of the cold water cascading over his body. Ahh, it was like a dream come true.

He opened the shampoo bottle and poured out a dollop of the creamy mixture. He sniffed it. It smelled different from the last bottle of shampoo, and from the bottle Edward could have sworn that Alphonse had bought the same brand. Ah well. Shrugging, he began to scrub the shampoo into his hair vigorously.

Edward whistled a merry tune as he headed to the bedroom to get his comb. As he passed Alphonse, who was seated on a chair reading a thick stack of notes, he heard a loud crashing sound.

He turned and saw Alphonse staring at him, wide-eyed, the chair overturned.

"Are you alright?" Edward asked, alarmed. "All that studying must have over-stressed you, Al. Go and take a rest!"

"No- no, it's not that…" stammered Alphonse, staring at Edward's vivid hair. _I knew it would be bad, but I didn't expect it to be this bad…_

Edward sighed, radiating brotherly concern. "I'm sure you'll ace that exam, Al. But don't stress yourself too much. Why don't you take a nap?"

Recovering himself, Alphonse put the chair upright again and stood up. "I'm fine, brother. I'll just get something to eat… I think." With that, he scurried out of the room. _Well, at least it only lasts for a week._

He heard Edward in the bedroom, looking for his comb, and a rubber band to tie his hair. He hardly dared to breathe. Any minute, the explosion was to come… the final moment of The Prank!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Alphonse jumped in spite of himself and hurried into the room. Edward stood staring at his reflection in the mirror, yelling his head off.

"WHY IS MY HAIR PURPLE, AL?" he turned to Alphonse, his eyes gleaming. "I think I'm starting to understand! That wasn't shampoo, was it? Don't you know I have to work and meet people? I-"

Alphonse grinned nervously. "Ever heard of April Fools, brother?"

"WHAT?"

"It's a day when people play pranks on people, in the name of fun. I doubt you'd have heard of it, we never celebrated it in Rizenbul… but it's sort of a festival in our world! And I thought, why not lighten up the mood with an April Fool's joke? So-"

"So, this is your idea of a joke?"

"Brother, the dye will wash off in a week!"

"A WEEK!"

Alphonse sighed, feeling a slight twinge of guilt now. "Fine. Happy April Fool's, brother, and I'm sorry for dyeing your hair purple."

A vein twitched in Edward's forehead. He continued standing there, as though rooted to the ground, glaring at his younger brother.

Alphonse gulped. "Uh… did you know that… you look good with purple hair?" and without waiting for a reply, he turned tail and escaped out of the house. He thought he heard a distant roar of fury 

and decided to come back a few hours later, when Edward had calmed down. Or, on second thought, maybe a couple of days.

**Ahh. Pointless, I know. But it was fun to write. So now, what are you waiting for? REVIEW! CLICK THAT PURPLE BUTTON AND TELL ME THE TIME I SPENT WRITING THIS WAS WORTH IT :p Just kidding, but review anyway please!**


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